1 .TH dgit 1 "" "Debian Project" "dgit"
3 dgit \- git integration with the Debian archive
7 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBclone\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
8 \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
11 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBfetch\fP|\fBpull\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
15 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBbuild\fP|\fBsbuild\fP|\fBbuild-source\fP
19 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBpush\fP [\fIdgit\-opts\fP]
23 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fBrpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR
27 [\fIdgit\-opts\fP] \fIaction\fR ...
30 treats the Debian archive as a version control system, and
31 bidirectionally gateways between the archive and git. The git view of
32 the package can contain the usual upstream git history, and will be
33 augmented by commits representing uploads done by other developers not
34 using dgit. This git history is stored in a canonical location known
37 which lives outside the Debian archive (currently, on Alioth).
39 The usual workflow is: 1. clone or fetch; 2. make and commit changes
40 in git as desired; 3. run dgit build, dgit sbuild or dgit
41 build-source, or generate the source and binary packages for upload
42 some other way; 4. do pre-upload tests of the proposed upload; 5. run
45 \fBdgit clone\fR \fIpackage\fP [\fIsuite\fP] [\fB./\fP\fIdir|\fB/\fP\fIdir\fR]
46 Consults the archive and dgit-repos to construct the git view of
53 in a new directory (named
56 also, downloads any necessary orig tarballs.
58 The suite's git tip is
59 left on the local branch
61 ready for work, and on the corresponding dgit remote tracking branch.
64 remote will be set up to point to the package's dgit-repos tree
65 for the distro to which
69 \fBdgit fetch\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
70 Consults the archive and git-repos to update the git view of
71 history for a specific suite (and downloads any necessary orig
72 tarballs), and updates the remote tracking branch
73 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
74 If the current branch is
76 then dgit fetch defaults to
78 otherwise it parses debian/changelog and uses the suite specified
81 \fBdgit pull\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
82 Does dgit fetch, and then merges the new head of the remote tracking
84 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
85 into the current branch.
90 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after build
91 will be passed on to dpkg-buildpackage. It is not necessary to use
92 dgit build when using dgit; it is OK to use any approach which ensures
93 that the generated source package corresponds to the relevant git
96 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
98 \fBdgit build-source\fR ...
99 Builds the source package, and a changes file for a prospective
100 source-only upload, using
102 The output is left in
103 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB.dsc\fR
105 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_source.changes\fR.
107 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
110 Print a usage summary.
112 \fBdgit sbuild\fR ...
113 Constructs the source package, uses
115 to do a binary build, and uses mergechanges to merge the source and
116 binary changes files. Options and argumments after sbuild will be
117 passed on to sbuild. Changes files matching
118 .IB package _ version _*.changes
119 in the parent directory will be removed; the output is left in
120 .IR package \fB_\fR version \fB_multi.changes\fR.
122 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
124 \fBdgit git-build\fR ...
127 with some suitable options. Options and argumments after git-build
128 will be passed on to git-buildpackage.
130 Tagging, signing and actually uploading should be left to dgit push.
132 \fBdgit push\fR [\fIsuite\fP]
133 Does an `upload', pushing the current HEAD to the archive (as a source
134 package) and to dgit-repos (as git commits). The package must already
135 have been built ready for upload, with the .dsc and .changes
136 left in the parent directory.
138 In more detail: dgit push checks that the current HEAD corresponds to
139 the .dsc. It then pushes the HEAD to the suite's dgit-repos branch,
140 makes a signed git tag, edits the .dsc to contain the dgit metadata
141 field, runs debsign to sign the upload (.dsc and .changes), pushes the
142 signed tag, and finally uses dput to upload the .changes to the
145 dgit push always uses the package, suite and version specified in the
146 debian/changelog and the .dsc, which must agree. If the command line
147 specifies a suite then that must match too.
149 If dgit push fails while uploading, it is fine to simply retry the
150 dput on the .changes file at your leisure.
152 \fBdgit rpush\fR \fIbuild-host\fR\fB:\fR\fIbuild-dir\fR [\fIpush args...\fR]
153 Pushes the contents of the specified directory on a remote machine.
154 This is like running dgit push on build-host with build-dir as the
155 current directory; however, signing operations are done on the
156 invoking host. This allows you to do a push when the system which has
157 the source code and the build outputs has no access to the key.
159 However, the build-host must be able to ssh to the dgit repos. If
160 this is not already the case, you must organise it separately, for
161 example by the use of ssh agent forwarding.
163 The remaining arguments are treated just as dgit push would handle
166 build-host and build\-dir can be passed as separate
167 arguments; this is assumed to be the case if the first argument
168 contains no : (except perhaps on in [ ], to support IPv6 address
172 Looks to see if the tree is one which dpkg-source cannot properly
173 represent. If it isn't, dgit will fix it up for you (in quilt terms,
174 by making a new debian/ patch containing your unquilty changes) and
175 make a commit of the changes it has made.
177 This is normally done automatically by dgit build and dgit push.
180 Prints version information and exits.
184 Go through the motions, fetching all information needed, but do not
185 actually update the output(s). For push, dgit does
186 the required checks and leaves the new .dsc in a temporary file,
187 but does not sign, tag, push or upload.
190 Go through many more of the motions: do everything that doesn't
191 involve either signing things, or making changes on the public
197 for signing the tag and the upload.
200 does not sign tags or uploads (meaningful only with push).
204 Specifies that we should process source package
206 rather than looking in debian/control or debian/changelog.
207 Valid with dgit fetch and dgit pull, only.
209 .BR --clean=git | -wg
210 The source tree should be cleaned, before building a source package
211 with one of the build options, using
212 .BR "git clean -xdf" .
213 This will delete all files which are not tracked by git.
215 .BR --clean=none | -wn
216 Do not clean the tree before building a source package. If there are
217 files which are not in git, a subsequent dgit push will fail.
219 .BR --clean=dpkg-source | -wd
220 Use dpkg-buildpackage to do the build, so that the source package
221 is cleaned by dpkg-source running the package's clean target.
222 This is the default. It requires the package's build dependencies.
225 The package may be new in this suite. Without this, dgit will
229 Do not complain if the working tree does not match your git HEAD.
230 This can be useful with build, if you plan to commit later. (dgit
231 push will still ensure that the .dsc you upload and the git tree
232 you push are identical, so this option won't make broken pushes.)
234 This option may not work properly on `3.0 (quilt)' packages, as in
235 that case dgit needs to use and perhaps commit parts of your working
239 Do not fix up source format `3.0 (quilt)' metadata. If you use this
240 option and the package did in fact need fixing up, dgit push will
244 Prints debugging information to stderr. Repeating the option produces
245 more output (currently, up to -DD is meaningfully different).
248 Specifies a git configuration option. dgit itself is also controlled
249 by git configuration options.
251 .RI \fB-v\fR version "|\fB_\fR | " \fB--since-version=\fR version |\fB_\fR
254 option to pass to dpkg-genchanges, during builds. Changes (from
255 debian/changelog) since this version will be included in the built
256 changes file, and hence in the upload. If this option is not
257 specified, dgit will query the archive and use the latest version
258 uploaded to the intended suite.
262 inhibits this, so that no -v option will be passed to dpkg-genchanges
263 (and as a result, only the last stanza from debian/changelog will
264 be used for the build and upload).
266 .RI \fB-m\fR maintaineraddress
267 Passed to dpkg-genchanges (eventually).
269 .RI \fB--ch:\fR option
270 Specifies a single additional option to pass, eventually, to
273 .RI \fB--dget=\fR program |\fB--dput=\fR program |...
274 Specifies alternative programs to use instead of
279 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
280 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
288 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
289 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
291 For dgit, specifies the command to run on the remote host when dgit
292 rpush needs to invoke a remote copy of itself. (dgit also reinvokes
293 itself as the EDITOR for dpkg-source --commit; this is done using
294 argv[0], and is not affected by --dget=).
296 For ssh, the default value is taken from the
300 environment variables, if set (see below). And, for ssh, when accessing the
301 archive and dgit-repos, this command line setting is overridden by the
303 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
306 (which can in turn be overridden with -c). Also, when dgit is using
307 git to access dgit-repos, only git's idea of what ssh to use (eg,
311 .RI \fB--dget:\fR option |\fB--dput:\fR option |...
312 Specifies a single additional option to pass to
317 .BR dpkg-buildpackage ,
318 .BR dpkg-genchanges ,
324 Can be repeated as necessary.
326 For dpkg-buildpackage, dpkg-genchanges, mergechanges and sbuild,
327 this applies only when the program is invoked directly by dgit.
328 Usually, for passing options to dpkg-genchanges, you should use
329 .BR --ch: \fIoption\fR.
331 See notes above regarding ssh and dgit.
333 NB that --gpg:option is not supported (because debsign does not
334 have that facility). But see -k.
336 .BR -d "\fIdistro\fR | " --distro= \fIdistro\fR
337 Specifies that the suite to be operated on is part of distro
339 This overrides the default value found from the git config option
340 .BR dgit-suite. \fIsuite\fR .distro .
341 The only effect is that other configuration variables (used
342 for accessing the archive and dgit-repos) used are
343 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR .* .
345 If your suite is part of a distro that dgit already knows about, you
346 can use this option to make dgit work even if your dgit doesn't know
347 about the suite. For example, specifying
349 will work when the suite is an unknown suite in the Debian archive.
351 To define a new distro it is necessary to define methods and URLs
352 for fetching (and, for dgit push, altering) a variety of information both
353 in the archive and in dgit-repos. How to do this is not yet
354 documented, and currently the arrangements are unpleasant. See
358 Specifies the .changes file which is to be uploaded. By default
359 dgit push looks for single .changes file in the parent directory whose
360 filename suggests it is for the right package and version - or,
361 if there is a _multi.changes file, dgit uses that.
363 .BI --existing-package= package
364 dgit push needs to canonicalise the suite name. But currently
365 there is no way to ask the archive to do this without knowing the
366 name of an existing package. Without --new we can just use the
367 package we are trying to push. But with --new that will not work, so
370 or use the value of this option.
373 Print a usage summary.
375 .BI --initiator-tempdir= directory
376 dgit rpush uses a temporary directory on the invoking (signing) host.
377 This option causes dgit to use
379 instead. Furthermore, the specified directory will be emptied,
380 removed and recreated before dgit starts, rather than removed
381 after dgit finishes. The directory specified must be an absolute
383 .SH WORKFLOW - SIMPLE
384 It is always possible with dgit to clone or fetch a package, make
385 changes in git (using git-commit) on the suite branch
386 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
387 and then dgit push. You can use whatever gitish techniques you like
388 to construct the commit to push; the only requirement is that it is a
389 descendant of the state of the archive, as provided by dgit in the
390 remote tracking branch
391 .BR remotes/dgit/dgit/ \fIsuite\fR.
393 If you are lucky the other uploaders have also used dgit and
394 integrated the other relevant git history; if not you can fetch it
395 into your tree and cherry-pick etc. as you wish.
396 .SH WORKFLOW - INTEGRATING BETWEEN DGIT AND OTHER GIT HISTORY
397 If you are the maintainer of a package dealing with uploads made
398 without dgit, you will probably want to merge the synthetic commits
399 (made by dgit to represent the uploads) into your git history.
400 Normally you can just merge the dgit branch into your own master, or
401 indeed if you do your work on the dgit local suite branch
403 you can just use dgit pull.
405 However the first time dgit is used it will generate a new origin
406 commit from the archive which won't be linked into the rest of your
407 git history. You will need to merge this.
409 If last upload was in fact made with git, you should usually proceed
410 as follows: identify the commit which was actually used to build the
411 package. (Hopefully you have a tag for this.) Check out the dgit
413 .RB ( "git checkout dgit/" \fIsuite\fR)
414 and merge that other commit
415 .RB ( "git merge debian/" \fIversion\fR).
416 Hopefully this merge will be trivial because the two trees should
417 be the same. The resulting branch head can be merged into your
419 .RB ( "git checkout master && git merge dgit/" \fIsuite\fR).
421 If last upload was not made with git, a different approach is required
422 to start using dgit. First, do
424 (or clone) to obtain a git history representation of what's in the
425 archive and record it in the
426 .BI remotes/dgit/dgit/ suite
427 tracking branch. Then somehow, using your other git history
428 plus appropriate diffs and cherry picks from the dgit remote tracking
429 branch, construct a git commit whose tree corresponds to the tree to use for the
430 next upload. If that commit-to-be-uploaded is not a descendant of the
431 dig remote tracking branch, check it out and say
432 .BR "git merge -s ours remotes/dgit/dgit/" \fIsuite\fR;
433 that tells git that we are deliberately throwing away any differences
434 between what's in the archive and what you intend to upload.
437 to actually upload the result.
439 You may use any suitable git workflow with dgit, provided you
440 satisfy dgit's requirements:
442 dgit maintains a pseudo-remote called
444 with one branch per suite. This remote cannot be used with
449 repository for each package contains one ref per suite named
450 \fBrefs/dgit/\fR\fIsuite\fR. These should be pushed to only by
451 dgit. They are fast forwarding. Each push on this branch
452 corresponds to an upload (or attempted upload).
454 However, it is perfectly fine to have other branches in dgit-repos;
455 normally the dgit-repos repo for the package will be accessible via
456 the remote name `origin'.
458 dgit push will also (by default) make signed tags called
460 and push them to dgit-repos, but nothing depends on these tags
463 dgit push can operate on any commit which is a descendant of the
464 current dgit/suite tip in dgit-repos.
466 Uploads made by dgit contain an additional field
468 in the source package .dsc. (This is added by dgit push.)
469 This specifies a commit (an ancestor of the dgit/suite
470 branch) whose tree is identical to the unpacked source upload.
472 Uploads not made by dgit are represented in git by commits which are
473 synthesised by dgit. The tree of each such commit corresponds to the
474 unpacked source; there is an origin commit with the contents, and a
475 psuedo-merge from last known upload - that is, from the contents of
476 the dgit/suite branch.
478 dgit expects repos that it works with to have a
480 remote. This refers to the well-known dgit-repos location
481 (currently, the dgit-repos project on Alioth). dgit fetch updates
482 the remote tracking branch for dgit/suite.
484 dgit does not (currently) represent the orig tarball(s) in git. The
485 orig tarballs are downloaded (by dgit clone) into the parent
486 directory, as with a traditional (non-gitish) dpkg-source workflow.
487 You need to retain these tarballs in the parent directory for dgit
490 To a user looking at the archive, changes pushed using dgit look like
491 changes made in an NMU: in a `3.0 (quilt)' package the delta from the
492 previous upload is recorded in a new patch constructed by dpkg-source.
493 .SH PACKAGE SOURCE FORMATS
494 If you are not the maintainer, you do not need to worry about the
495 source format of the package. You can just make changes as you like
496 in git. If the package is a `3.0 (quilt)' package, the patch stack
497 will usually not be represented in the git history.
499 If you are the maintainer of a non-native package, you currently have
500 two sensible options:
502 Firstly, you can regard your git history as primary, and the archive
503 as an export format. For example, you could maintain topic branches
504 in git and a fast-forwarding release branch; or you could do your work
505 directly in a merging way on the
507 branches. If you do this you should probably use a `1.0' format
508 source package if you can. In the archive, the delta between upstream
509 will be represented in the single Debian patch.
511 Secondly, you can use `3.0 (quilt)', and regard your quiltish patch
512 stack in the archive as primary. You will have to use other tools
513 besides dgit to import and export this patch stack. But see below:
514 .SH FORMAT 3.0 (QUILT)
515 For a format `3.0 (quilt)' source package, dgit may have to make a
516 commit on your current branch to contain metadata used by quilt and
519 This is because (i) the `3.0 (quilt)' source format cannot represent
520 certain trees, and (ii) packing up a tree in `3.0 (quilt)' and then
521 unpacking it does not always yield the same tree. Instead,
522 dpkg-source insists on the trees having extra quilty metadata and
523 patch files in the debian/ and .pc/ directories, which dpkg-source
526 dgit will automatically work around this braindamage for you when
527 building and pushing. The only thing you need to know is that dgit
528 build, sbuild, etc., may make a new commit on your HEAD. If you're
529 not a quilt user this commit won't contain any changes to files you
532 You can explicitly request that dgit do just this fixup, by running
535 We recommend against the use of `3.0 (quilt)'.
536 .SH FILES IN THE SOURCE PACKAGE BUT NOT IN GIT
537 This section is mainly of interest to maintainers who want to use dgit
538 with their existing git history for the Debian package.
540 Some developers like to have an extra-clean git tree which lacks files
541 which are normally found in source tarballs and therefore in Debian
542 source packages. For example, it is conventional to ship ./configure
543 in the source tarball, but some people prefer not to have it present
544 in the git view of their project.
546 dgit requires that the source package unpacks to exactly the same
547 files as are in the git commit on which dgit push operates. So if you
548 just try to dgit push directly from one of these extra-clean git
549 branches, it will fail.
551 As the maintainer you therefore have the following options:
554 Persuade upstream that the source code in their git history and the
555 source they ship as tarballs should be identical. Of course simply
556 removing the files from the tarball may make the tarball hard for
559 One answer is to commit the (maybe autogenerated)
560 files, perhaps with some simple automation to deal with conflicts and
561 spurious changes. This has the advantage that someone who clones
562 the git repository finds the program just as easy to build as someone
563 who uses the tarball.
566 Have separate git branches which do contain the extra files, and after
567 regenerating the extra files (whenever you would have to anyway),
568 commit the result onto those branches.
571 Provide source packages which lack the files you don't want
572 in git, and arrange for your package build to create them as needed.
573 This may mean not using upstream source tarballs and makes the Debian
574 source package less useful for people without Debian build
577 Of course it may also be that the differences are due to build system
578 bugs, which cause unintended files to end up in the source package.
579 dgit will notice this and complain. You may have to fix these bugs
580 before you can unify your existing git history with dgit's.
582 dgit looks at the following git config keys to control its behaviour.
583 You may set them with git-config (either in system-global or per-tree
584 configuration), or provide
586 on the dgit command line.
588 .BI dgit-suite. suite .distro
590 .BI dgit.default.distro
592 .BI dgit-distro. distro .username
594 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-url
596 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-user
598 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-host
600 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-proto
602 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-path
604 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-check
606 .BI dgit-distro. distro .git-create
608 .BI dgit-distro. distro .upload-host
610 .BI dgit-distro. distro .mirror
612 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query
614 .BI dgit-distro. distro .archive-query-default-component
616 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-user
618 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-host
620 .BI dgit-distro. distro .sshpsql-dbname
622 .BI dgit-distro. distro .ssh
624 .BI dgit-distro. distro .keyid
628 .BR dgit-distro. \fIdistro\fR . *
629 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
631 .BR DGIT_SSH ", " GIT_SSH
632 specify an alternative default program (and perhaps arguments) to use
633 instead of ssh. DGIT_SSH is consulted first and may contain arguments;
634 if it contains any whitespace will be passed to the shell. GIT_SSH
635 specifies just the program; no arguments can be specified, so dgit
636 interprets it the same way as git does.
638 also the --ssh= and --ssh: options.
640 .BR gpg ", " dpkg- "..., " debsign ", " git ", " dget ", " dput ", " LWP::UserAgent
641 and other subprograms and modules used by dgit are affected by various
642 environment variables. Consult the documentaton for those programs
645 We should be using some kind of vhost/vpath setup for the git repos on
646 alioth, so that they can be moved later if and when this turns out to
649 The method of canonicalising suite names is bizarre. See the
650 .B --existing-package
651 option for one of the implications.
653 dgit push should perhaps do `git push origin', or something similar,
656 Debian does not have a working rmadison server, so to find out what
657 version of a package is in the archive, or to canonicalise suite
658 names, we ssh directly into the ftpmaster server and run psql there to
661 The mechanism for checking for and creating per-package repos on
662 alioth is a hideous bodge. One consequence is that dgit currently
663 only works for people with push access.
665 Debian Maintainers are currently not able to push, as there is not
666 currently any mechanism for determining and honouring the archive's
667 ideas about access control. Currently only DDs can push.
669 dgit's representation of format `3.0 (quilt)' source packages does not
670 represent the patch stack. Currently the patch series representation
671 cannot round trip through the archive. Ideally dgit would represent a
672 quilty package with an origin commit of some kind followed by the
673 patch stack as a series of commits followed by a pseudo-merge (to make
674 the branch fast-forwarding). This would also mean a new `dgit
675 rebase-prep' command or some such to turn such a fast-forwarding
676 branch back into a rebasing patch stack, and a `force' option to dgit
677 push (perhaps enabled automatically by a note left by rebase-prep)
678 which will make the required pseudo-merge.
680 If the dgit push fails halfway through, it should be restartable and
681 idempotent. However this is not true for the git tag operation.
682 Also, it would be good to check that the proposed signing key is
683 available before starting work.
685 dgit's handling of .orig.tar.gz is not very sophisticated. Ideally
686 the .orig.tar.gz could be transported via the git repo as git tags.
687 Doing this is made more complicated by the possibility of a `3.0
688 (quilt)' package with multiple .orig tarballs.
690 dgit's build functions, and dgit push, should not make any changes to
691 your current HEAD. Sadly this is necessary for packages in the `3.0
692 (quilt)' source format. This is ultimately due to design problems in
693 quilt and dpkg-source.
695 There should be an option which arranges for the `3.0 (quilt)'
696 autocommit to not appear on your HEAD, but instead only in the
697 remote tracking suite branch.
699 The option parser requires values to be cuddled to the option name.
701 dgit assumes knowledge of the archive database. (The information dgit
702 needs is not currently available via any public online service with a
703 well-defined interface, let alone a secure one.)
705 --dry-run does not always work properly, as not doing some of the git
706 fetches may result in subsequent actions being different. Doing a
707 non-dry-run dgit fetch first will help.
713 \fBgit-buildpackage\fP(1),
714 \fBdpkg-buildpackage\fP(1),
716 https://wiki.debian.org/Alioth
~ianmdlvl / dgit.git / blob